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Enhancement of women's autonomy is a key factor for improving women's health and nutrition. With nearly 12 million orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) in Africa due to HIV/AIDS, the study of OVC primary caregivers' nutrition is fundamental. We investigated the association between married women's autonomy and their nutritional status; explored whether this relationship was modified by OVC primary caregiving; and analyzed whether decision-making autonomy mediated the association between household wealth and body mass index (BMI). This cross-sectional study used the data from Demographic Health Surveys collected during 2006-2007 from 20- to 49-year-old women in Namibia (n = 2633), Swaziland (n = 1395), and Zambia (n = 2920). Analyses included logistic regression, Sobel, and Goodman tests. Our results indicated that women's educational attainment increased the odds for being overweight (Swaziland and Zambia) and decreased the odds for being underweight (Namibia). In Zambia, having at least primary education increased the odds for being overweight only among child primary caregivers regardless of the OVC status of the child, and having autonomy for buying everyday household items increased the odds for being overweight only among OVC primary caregivers. Decision-making autonomy mediated the association between household wealth and OVC primary caregivers' BMI in Zambia (Z = 2.13, p value = 0.03). We concluded that depending on each country's contextual characteristics, having education can decrease the odds for being an underweight woman or increase the odds for being an overweight woman. Further studies should explore why in Namibia education has an effect on women's overweight status only among women who are caring for a child.

BackgroundAfrica is facing a nutritional transition where underweight and overweight coexist. Although the majority of programs for orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) focus on undernourishment, the association between OVC primary caregiving and the...

Men in the United States are increasingly involved in their children's lives and currently represent 40% of informal caregivers to dependent relatives or friends aged 18 years and older. Yet much more is known about the health effects of varying fami...

Social disorganization theory posits that individuals who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior than are those who live in advantaged neighborhoods and that neighborhood disadvantage asserts this effect ...

Understanding factors that are associated with disclosure of sexual violence (SV) is important for the delivery of health services as well as developing strategies for prevention and response. The Violence Against Children Surveys were conducted in M...